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It's All about the Benjamins: The Cid and His Quest for His Enemies' Riches

Throughout the course of The Poem of the Cid, the title character
faces attacks from several directions. Most of the time his enemies are Moors,
which is not surprising since the poem is set in an era when Christian Spain
was trying to regain its territories from the Muslims. Yet, half of the time,
his enemies are Spanish Christians like him. The reasons for the various
parties’ attacks on the Cid differ: at times they pursue the Cid for vengeance;
other times they do so for jealousy of his wealth and power. Although the Cid’s
enemies all seek to vanquish him for different reasons, what remains a constant
for these conflicts is that the Cid Compeador views them as opportunities to
profit monetarily from defeating his enemies, becoming cocky from his success in
the process.

The
conflict that sets this standard is Cid’s confrontation with the Count of
Barcelona. It may seem counterintuitive that a fellow Christian in the Count of
Barcelona would threaten to attack the Cid, being that they are of the same
religion in a Spain
fractured by Moorish occupation. One might think that it would be to the
Spaniards’ advantage to forget their petty quarrels in order to regain their
national unity. Nevertheless, the Count’s desire for vengeance surpasses his
allegiance to other Christians.

He explicitly makes his reasoning
known: “In my own palace [the Cid] gave me great offense by striking my nephew
and never giving satisfaction for it. Now he is ravaging the lands under my
protection (p.73).” Thus, the Cid committed an act of violence against a
relative of the Count’s and did not apologize, which is inexcusable in the
Count’s mind. He claims that he has been reasonable: “I never challenged him
nor showed enmity towards him in return (p. 73).” The Count views himself as righteous,
saying that he did not take vengeance against the Cid for his actions in the
palace, which was generous of him. He suggests that he was lenient enough with
the Cid at first, but that the Cid’s ravaging of Count Ramón’s protected lands
crossed the line between offensive and utterly inexcusable. The count feels that
he must punish the Cid for overstepping his bounds.

Also noteworthy is that the
narrator does not list the people to whom the Count gripes. To illustrate the
scene of the Count complaining, the narrator merely writes to confirm that the
Count is in the wrong: “The Count was a hasty and foolish man and spoke without
due reflection (p. 73).” Before the Count even begins his tirade, readers know
to disregard it since the omniscient narrator treats the Count’s speech as
being meritless, being both hasty and foolish. The fact that his words are
spoken hastily and to a nonspecific audience gives readers the idea that
perhaps he is addressing anyone in his palace willing to listen. Subsequently,
the effect of his complaint is that “Great numbers of Moors and Christians
flocked in haste to join his forces (p. 73).” This sentence proves that the
Count despises the Cid so much that he crosses religious borders: he enlists
Moors and Christians indiscriminately. His main concern is defeating the Cid,
and he will forego religious prejudices to complete his goal.

Thus, the Cid’s first obstacle,
Count Ramón, is driven primarily by desire for vengeance. The Cid, however,
makes short work of him. The narrator writes that shortly after the victory,
“[The Cid] then left his tent, in great humor at the amount of the booty (p.
77).” This sentence begins a few patterns to be repeated later in the text. For
one, this is the Cid’s first military victory, and already he has gained enough
riches from the battle to put him in a good mood. Collecting vast amounts of
booty through excellence in war, however, is not the only pattern that will
repeat itself. Readers also see from the phrase “great humor” that the Cid
delights in his achievement. Instead of remaining modest, he establishes
himself as a self-celebratory commander, a showboat.

Unlike Count Ramón, a Christian whose
motive was vengeance, the Moorish Valencian soldiers, whom the Cid faces next,
attack for a different reason: “Within the walls of Valencia great fear spread. The
people of Valencia
had grown anxious and distressed. They resolved to go and lay siege to the Cid
(p. 81).” Again, readers of The Poem of
the Cid must take the all-knowing narrator’s words for truth when the he
explicitly states that the Valencians exhibited “great fear” and were “anxious
and distressed.” These words show that the Moors of Valencia felt intimidated
by the Cid’s presence in their land. Already, Ruy Díaz
has gained a powerful reputation that he is the object of nightmares. While it
is true that the Moors of Valencia decide to besiege him order to halt his
progress into Muslim lands, they are also acting on their primal instincts to
attack the leader whom they fear as a threat. Interestingly enough, the
narrator never mentions religion as a motive for the Valencians’ siege on the
Christians. Just as the Count of Barcelona desired vengeance so much that he
would dare to fight a fellow Christian, the Valencians’ desire to destroy the
man they fear so much that their differences in religion become a mere
secondary reason to attack.

Again, the
Cid fells his enemies and gains wealth: “The Cid captured immense booty, and
when they returned after stripping the battlefield they took Cebolla and all
the land beyond it, and entered Murviedro laden with the spoils (p. 83).” The
Spanish soldiers’ stripping of the battlefield shows the Cid’s high regard for
riches. He does not want to let a great opportunity to profit from war go to
waste, so he sends men out after the battle to salvage any goods with monetary
value. What is the emotional result of this victory, one might ask? The answer
to that lies in a single sentence: “Great joy spread through the place (p.
83).” The pattern repeats: the Cid wins in battle, and instead of feeling
solemn after a day of warfare or observing a moment of silence for the dead, he
is immediately overcome with happiness. He even sends his men out to attack
Muslim coastal settlements that very night, a practice akin to running a
victory lap. Thus, through the battle with the Valencians, the Cid has
reestablished himself as both a shrewd profiteer concerned with the acquisition
of funds and a cocksure military commander unafraid to flaunt his skill.

By the time
the Moorish king decides to act on his rage caused by the Cid’s invasion of
Muslim lands, Ruy Díaz has become bold enough
to say: “Thanks be to our Father in Heaven! . . . A piece of good fortune has
come from beyond the sea (p. 109).” This equation of men to fortune is almost
comical in its cockiness. The Cid no longer views his opponents as competition
but as the fortune he will gain by defeating them. When the Cid sees King
Yusuf’s Moroccans charge toward the Spaniards, he perceives the Moors not as
warriors but as dollar signs, so to speak. The Infantes of Carrión become
another intrareligious set of enemies. They betray a fellow Christian in the
Cid with greed as their motive: “‘We shall carry off our great wealth and we
shall show our contempt for the daughters of the Cid! With these great
possessions we shall be rich for life (p. 157).’” The brothers’ plan to abandon
the Cid’s daughters and to keep the Cid’s dowry illustrates their greedy love
of money. They do not care about the women they pledged to love and honor. They
would rather show contempt for the Cid’s daughters but retain the great
possessions the Cid gave them because the wealth will guarantee them lifelong affluence
and luxury.

Although justice for the near-rape
of his daughters is definitely an important part of the trial against the
Infantes, one of the first orders of business for the Cid is the return of the
riches he gifted the Infantes: “When they took my daughters away from Valencia, I
gave them three thousand marks in gold and silver. . . Let them give me back my
money as they have ceased to be my sons-in-law (p. 189).” The Cid makes sure to
state the exact amount of money they owe him. This illustrates the importance
of gaining a maximal amount of money from his enemies which he showed earlier
in having his men search the battlefield for valuables. This forces the
Infantes to borrow money from several sources in the court to satisfy the Cid’s
demands. After they give the Cid property that adds up to three thousand marks,
the narrator does not write that the Cid then flaunts his success in court.
Instead, the narrator trumpets the Cid’s success for him: “The tables were
certainly turned against [the Infantes] that day (p. 191).” This sentence is redundant;
anyone who reads tirada 137 understands that the Cid ended up regaining his
money. Thus, the sentence serves as a kind of rhetorical understatement. Of
course the tables were turned against the Infantes, but because the narrator
chooses to include this sentence, the Cid’s dominance over the Infantes
heightens. The narrator proclaims the Cid’s greatness without Díaz himself having to make any cocky statement.

In each
case described above, any alliances or oppositions that should exist due to
religion, either Christian or Islamic, are cast aside for more important reasons.
For the Count of Barcelona, it is revenge for wronging his relative in court
and parading through the Count’s territory as if it were his own; for the
Valencians, it is fear of a superior military leader rising in power and fame; for
King Yusuf, it is outrage that the Cid had retaken such a significant amount of
Moorish territory and booty; and for the Infantes of Carrión, it is greed for
the wealth the Cid endowed upon them as a wedding gift.

Yet the result always remains the
same: the Cid defeats his enemies and merrily celebrates his acquisition of
wealth. The Cid is so mighty that he can put down and extract booty any enemy
who opposes him for any reason. Not only can he drive away Muslims from their
Spanish territories, which will ultimately help the Spanish complete the
Reconquista, but he can also repel forces from within Christianity attempting
to derail his success, all while gaining enough riches to allot generous
portions to each member of his army. What this repetition of obtaining booty
through war and court trials signals to readers is that the Cid views every
conflict with an adversary as just another chance to turn a profit. Nothing can
stop the Cid in his quest for personal financial gain. On the contrary, each
action taken against him only benefits his wallet in the end.